The Dominican University men's soccer team got off to a quick start on Saturday afternoon, putting six shots on frame in the opening 45 minutes including a pair of first half goals, en route to a 2-1 win over the visiting North Central College Cardinals at West Campus Field.
 
"The guys came out and played well—executing our game plane in the first 45 minutes," commented Dominican University head men's soccer coach Erick Baumann. "We were solid defensively and scored two nice goals.  The second half was a grind. I was proud of the way we handled ourselves and fought through the challenge.  That was a great character win."
 
The Stars got going right at the opening kickoff, springing the team's leading scorer Adam Yaghmour on a run into the penalty box with Yaghmour forcing North Central's Connor O'Neill off his line to make a sliding save.  A minute later Dominican's senior forward again got behind the Cardinals' backline, getting off a right-footed shot that was turned away by O'Neill.
 
Yaghmour and the Dominican offense kept the pressure on North Central throughout the first 11 minutes of the match, eventually breaking through for the game's first score when Nicolo Vitale won a ball in the air to gain possession for the Stars.  After connecting on a couple of passes, David Ortega served a ball to right flank for Yaghmour who cut his defender back to the left before bending a shot with his left foot inside the near post for his sixth goal of the season.
 
The Stars continued to wear out the Cardinals over the remainder of the first half, eventually finding the back of the goal in the 44^th minute when Nestor Ascencio put a ball onto the North Central backline where Isaac Perez pressured to force a miscue when the Cardinals tried to head a ball back to O'Neill but Perez beat O'Neill to the ball, flicking around the Cardinals' goalkeeper before sliding to direct the ball into the goal for his first goal of the season.
 
After Dominican outshot North Central 9-6 in the first half and the Cardinals chasing the scoreboard throughout the second 45 minutes, possession evened out over the second half with both sides managing five shots, including a Cardinals' penalty kick goal in the 58^th minute converted by Ryan O'Deen.
 
For the Stars, freshman goalkeeper Brendon Martin made a pair of second half saves and three in the match to preserve the victory while Vitale and Jonathan Arzeta helped the manage the clock late in the match.
 
With the win, the Stars improve to 4-2-0 on the season, opening Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play on Wednesday, hosting the Rockford University Regents for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff at West Campus Field.